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Origins of the Imperial Presidency

David Sirota on how Trump got the power of a king.

Jeet Heer

March 30, 2026

President Donald Trump reacts during a Cabinet meeting.(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

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For the Union Makes Us Strong w/ Sara Nelson / Fighting Fascism
byThe Nation Magazine

Sara Nelson is the President of the Association of Flight Attendants, and one of the most badass leaders in the labor movement today. But that doesn’t mean we don’t conduct a hard-hitting, critical interview of her. Well, actually, that’s exactly what it means. Hear Sara lay out the challenges and opportunities that unions face right now, and the role of organized labor in fighting fascism. And hear us just kinda fan-boy nod along to everything she says!

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As millions of Americans protest Donald Trump under the slogan of “No Kings,” it is worth asking how the nation ended up with such an authoritarian president. David Sirota and the team at The Lever have provided a great answer to this question in their new podcast series, Master Plan: The Kingmakers, which looks at the revival of the imperial presidency after the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s. I talked to David about the history uncovered in this podcast and why Trump is merely a symptom of a much deeper problem.

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The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

The Triumph of Mamdani and the DSA w/ Ross Barkan / The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had a very good night on Tuesday: a slate of candidates he endorsed won in Democratic primaries in both state and congressional races. This victory was shared by the Democratic Socialists of America, which is now clearly replacing the old political machines in its ability to get out the vote. Ross Barkan wrote about these elections for The Nation and joins the podcast to tell the story of the rising left in urban America.

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Jeet HeerTwitterJeet Heer is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also pens the monthly column “Morbid Symptoms.” The author of In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American Prospect, The GuardianThe New Republic, and The Boston Globe.


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